“Any provincial, visitor, prior, guardian, or other high official, who may be elected and nominated in the realm of the Yndias shall, before being admitted to exercise his office, inform our viceroy, president, Audiencia, or governor who shall have in charge the supreme government of such province, and shall show him his patent of nomination and election, so that the latter may give him the protection and aid necessary for the exercise and use of his office.
“The provincials of all the orders who are established in the Yndias, each one of them, shall always keep a list ready of all the monasteries and chief residences [maintained there by his orders] and of the members [resident in each] that fall in his province, and of all the religious in the province—noting each one of them by name, together with a report of his age and qualifications, and the office or ministry in which each one is occupied. He shall give that annually to our viceroy, Audiencia, or governor, or the person who shall have charge of the supreme government in the province, adding to or removing from the list the religious who shall be superfluous and those who shall be needed. Our viceroy, Audiencia, or governor, shall keep those general lists which shall thus be given, for himself, and in order that he may inform us by report of the religious that there are, and those of whom there is need of provision, by each fleet sent out.
“The provincials of the orders, each one of them shall make a list of all the religious who are occupied in teaching the Christian doctrine to the Indians, and the administration of sacraments, and the offices of curas in the villages of the chief monasteries. They shall give such list once a year to our viceroy, Audiencia, or governor, who shall give it to the diocesan prelate, so that he may know and understand what persons are occupied in the administration of sacraments and the office of curas and the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and who are in charge of the souls for whom he is responsible; and in order that what is or must be provided may be apparent to him, and from whom he has to require account of the said souls, and to whom he must commit what is to be done for the welfare of those souls.
“Whenever the provincials have to provide any religious for instruction or for the administration of sacraments, or remove any who shall have been appointed, they shall give notice thereof to our viceroy, president, Audiencia, or governor who shall exercise the supreme government of the province, and to the prelate; and they shall not remove any one who shall have been appointed, until another shall have been appointed in his place, observing the above order.
“We desire, in the presentations and appointments of all the prelacies, dignidades, and ecclesiastical offices and benefices, that those most deserving, and who shall have been engaged longer and to better profit in the conversion of the Indians, and in instructing them in the Christian doctrine, and in the administration of sacraments, shall be presented and appointed. Therefore we strictly charge the diocesan prelates, and those superiors of the religious orders, and we order our viceroys, presidents, audiencias, and governors, that in the nominations, presentations, and appointments that they shall have to make there, as is said, in conformity [with this decree], they shall always prefer, in the first place, those who shall have been occupied, by life and example, in the conversion of the Indians, and in instruction and in administering the sacraments, and those who shall know the language of the Indians whom they have to instruct; and, in the second place, those who shall be the sons of Spaniards and who shall have served us in those regions.
“In order that we may better make the presentation that shall become necessary of prelacies, dignidades, prebends, and the other ecclesiastical offices and benefices, we ask and charge the said diocesan prelates and the provincials of the religious orders, and we order our viceroys, presidents, audiencias, and governors, each one of them, separately and distinctly by himself, without communicating one with another, to make a list of all the dignidades, benefices, missions, and ecclesiastical offices in his province, noting those of them that are vacant, and those that are filled. Likewise they shall make a list of all the ecclesiastical and religious persons, and of the sons of citizens and Spaniards who are studying for the purpose of becoming ecclesiastics, and of the good character, learning, competency and qualities of each one, stating clearly his good parts and also his defects, and declaring, so that prelacies, dignidades, benefices, and ecclesiastical offices shall be suitably filled, both those that shall be at present found vacant, and those that shall become vacant hereafter. Those relations shall be sent us closed and sealed, in each fleet, and in different ships; and what shall be deemed advisable to add to or to suppress from the preceding ones that shall have been sent before, shall be added or suppressed; so that no fleet shall sail without its relation. We charge the consciences of one and all straitly with this matter.
“In order that we may not be deceived by those who come or send to petition us to present them to some dignidad, benefice, or ecclesiastical office, we desire, and it is our will, that he who shall thus come or send appear before our viceroy, or before the president and Audiencia, or before the one who shall have charge of the supreme government of the province; and, declaring his petition, the viceroy, Audiencia, or governor shall make the relation officially, with information concerning his standing, learning, morals, competency, and other details. After it is made, he shall send it separately from those persons. Likewise the approval of their prelate shall be obtained, and warning is given that those who come to petition for a dignidad, benefice, or ecclesiastical office without such investigation shall not be received.
“We desire and it is our will that no person can hold, obtain, or occupy two dignidades, or ecclesiastical benefices in the provinces of the Yndias, either in the same or in different churches. Therefore we order that if any one shall be presented by us for any dignidad, benefice, or office, he shall renounce what he shall have held previously, before his collation and appointment.
“If the one presented by us does not present himself, within the time contained in the presentation, to the prelate who must make the appointment and canonical installation, after the expiration of the said time the presentation shall be void, and no appointment and canonical installation can be made by virtue of it.
“Inasmuch as it is our will that the above-contained be observed and obeyed, for we believe that such procedure is expedient for the service of God and for our own, I order you to examine the above, and to observe and obey it, and cause it to be observed and obeyed in all those provinces and villages, and their churches, in toto, and exactly as is contained and declared, for what time shall be our will. You shall accomplish and fulfil it, in the ways that shall appear most advisable to you. You shall take for this purpose such measures and precautions as shall be advisable, in virtue of this my decree; and I give you for that complete authority in legal form. Accordingly we request and charge the very reverend father in Christ, the archbishop of that city, and member of our Council, and the reverend fathers in Christ, the archbishop of Nueva España, the venerable deans and cabildo of the cathedral churches of that country, and all the curas, beneficiaries, sacristans, and other ecclesiastical persons, the venerable and devout fathers provincial, guardians, priors, and other religious of the orders of St. Dominic, St. Augustine, St. Francis, and of all the other orders, that in what pertains to, and is incumbent on them, they observe and obey this decree, acting in harmony with you, for all that shall be advisable. Given in San Lorenzo el Real, June first, one thousand five hundred and seventy-four.
I order you to examine the said decree, and its sections above-incorporated, and you shall observe and obey it, and cause it to be observed and obeyed in toto, as is contained and declared in it and in each one of its sections, as if it were given for those islands and directed to you. I charge the reverend father in Christ, the bishop of those islands, the venerable dean and cabildo of the cathedral church of the islands, all the curas, beneficiaries, sacristans, and other ecclesiastical persons, and the venerable and devout fathers provincial, guardians, priors, and other religious of